Editorial: Restore police accountability

As part of our series of short editorials this Sunshine Week, we again call for fixes to the law that keeps wrongdoing by and discipline of police, firefighters and correction officers secret.

When New York enacted Section 50-a of the state Civil Rights Law 40 years ago, it was a legitimate attempt to stop private attorneys from bolstering their own clients’ cases by exploiting personnel records of police officers.

Unfortunately, it’s 50-a that’s been exploited since then — by some public officials and the unions representing police, firefighters and correction officers.

The result: Section 50-a has repeatedly kept a veil over misconduct and disciplinary actions brought against these uniformed public employees, whose misbehavior can have the gravest of consequences. It makes them and their supervisors unaccountable to the public.

A simple change in the law would correct this unintended consequence, but legislators from both parties seem content to leave it alone rather than draw the ire of powerful public employee unions.

Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, D-Manhattan, has stood out, proposing legislation to repeal or change 50-a to allow for more transparency. We need more lawmakers to join him and restore accountability.